PS4 & the Vita: The Likely Next-Gen Scenario

Colin Moriarty recently had some illuminating things to say about the past and future of the PS Vita. Marinating on the bleak undercurrents of that article got me thinking about the probable direction for not just the Vita, but console gaming in general. I'm willing to make a hefty wager that in 2013 history will, to a certain degree at least, repeat itself.

When the Wii came out in 2006, it was a smash hit. It was the cool lunchbox that made a nine-year-old kid feel validated before the uncompromising scrutiny of his peers. "Blue ocean" was the business-analyst pop-psychology buzzword-de-jour, bandied about with reckless abandon. For a couple of years there, motion control was touted as the next big thing. Sony and Microsoft set themselves to the task of designing a competing control device targeted at the highly-coveted mainstream consumers, who apparently would prefer waving their arms around over becoming acclimated to a conventional controller's intimidating array of buttons, sticks, and other fiddly bits.

You're probably aware of the end results. Microsoft's Kinect proved capable of connecting with consumers despite its kludgey limitations, while Sony's Move, despite its superior precision, failed to move PS3's out the door. Ultimately, motion control wound up floating adrift in a niche status somewhere between that of a flash-in-the-pan fad and the next logical evolutionary step.

Motion sickness

We're on the verge of a new generation of consoles, and this time around, a boost to graphical fidelity won't be enough to lure tens of millions of customers into mothballing their current systems. Nintendo is likely once again in the enviable position of trend-setter. Integrating a capacitive touchscreen as a control element is a great idea. It's intuitive, and by "intuitive" I don't mean "flail about in a way that vaguely translates into what's happening in the game", but rather it runs off of the same taps and swipes that are already second nature to their youthful target demographic. In characteristic fashion, Nintendo's strategy limits the user experience to their proprietary hardware ecosystem--a walled garden where the walls have no place to plug in an ethernet cable.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's perspective on the matter is that if their target consumers are already ensconced in a world of tablets and smartphones, then why not just let them use those devices directly via an app? Enter SmartGlass. Right now, it's only noteworthy as a superior input method for IM'ing friends, but it has the potential to do everything the Wii U's gamepad can. While MS has traditionally been content to provide the software to run on a spectrum of hardware, there are also lingering rumors about a possible Xbox-branded Surface Tablet. If true, it's a smart move, because whereas Nintendo has to supply a touchscreen device for each Wii U, Microsoft can position their tablet as an a-la-carte item, sellinjg them separately (as they were once infamous for doing with their wifi adapters and HD DVD players), or as part of a deluxe bundle.

So, that brings us to Sony and what their next-gen strategy will be. In Colin's aforementioned article, he mentions the possibility of the Vita being incorporated as a second screen for Sony's next-gen console. Considering everything stated above, I'd go so far as to say that Sony absolutely must come up with an offering in the venue of touchscreen peripherals for the next Playstation iteration. Even if it hasn't been part of their current plans, they'll wind up having to implement it as a reaction just like as they were compelled to do so with the Move. Think about it: third-party software developers can shrug off one of the console giants' efforts to prod them into incorporating features for touchscreens into their games, but can they snub both Nintendo and Microsoft? Mario and Master Chief combined are quite a force to reckon with. Get Call of Duty and maybe Minecraft on board, and it's a lock. That would leave any console that doesn't support the touchscreen features as odd-man-out.

This is, quite naturally, where the Vita comes in. Sony already has features like cross-play, transfarring, and remote play. It's just a matter of proprely enhancing and leveraging them. Now, it's vital to realize that the Vita shouldn't be the only device that can act as a touchscreen peripheral for the next Playstation; because even putting aside the narrow appeal of investing in a relatively-pricey dedicated portable game device, we also have to consider that Sony makes lots of other touchscreen devices. Putting all that weight on the Vita's shoulders would amount to shooting themselves in the foot. The capacity in which the Vita can best serve is in that of the premium peripheral for the hardcore sect.